Ukraine and the World – Against russia’s Aggression. Sanctions in Action

EU countries have finally approved a plan to ban russian gas imports by the end of 2027. Under this decision, the EU will stop importing russian liquefied natural gas by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas – by September 30, 2027.

“Lithuania wants Ukraine to become a member of the European Union by 2030,” said President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda.

European Commission Spokesperson Paula Pinho has assured that the European Commission is in constant contact with the Ukrainian and US negotiating teams that participated in the talks with russia in Abu Dhabi (UAE).

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany Johann Wadephul has condemned “russia’s insistence on a key territorial issue” during the negotiations on Ukraine.

Co-Leader of the German opposition party The Greens, Franziska Brantner has called on the government to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense amid increasing russian attacks and to transfer long-range weapons to Kyiv.

French company EOS Technologie has supplied Ukraine with Rodeur 330 drones capable of flying up to 500 kilometers.

Czech company SPARK supplies Ukraine with fiber optic FPV drones based on technology from intercepted russian UAVs.

The Czech initiative Darek pro putina (“Gift for putin”) has raised 126 million Czech korunas ($6.16 million) for generators and backup batteries for Kyiv within five days of announcing the fundraiser.

Kyiv has received 130 electric generators from Poland.

The German company Uniper, which takes the toughest stance on russian partners, is demanding payment from gazprom for pumping gas from the Nord Stream pipeline. Lubmin-Brandov Gastransport GmbH (a division of Uniper Global Commodities SE) has initiated arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva. The EUR 45 million claim relates to a contract for the transportation of natural gas via the OPAL pipeline since June 1, 2012.

One of the points of the framework agreement on Greenland provides for measures that will prevent russia and China from developing resources on the island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. The agreement between the USA and the EU provides for no further tariffs to be imposed on each other, as well as the creation of a supervisory body to monitor the granting of mineral exploration rights in order to prevent other countries, such as russia and China, from winning the race for Greenland’s resources.

The USA’s authorities have expelled another group of russians from the country. This is at least the fifth deportation flight with russians since the beginning of 2025.

Due to a significant reduction in supplies to India linked to US sanctions, the price of russia’s main export grade of oil, Urals, has fallen to an unprecedented low when sold to buyers in China. While in August 2025 Urals was sold at a premium of one dollar to Brent, this week the discount is already ten dollars per barrel.

In 2025, russia increased its physical gold supplies to China ninefold – to 25.3 tons, or by 800%. In monetary terms, the growth increased 14.6 times, to $3.29 billion. Both in monetary terms and in tons, the figures were record highs for the entire period of trade between russia and China.

2025 was the worst year for russian trade in 10 years. In all four quarters, the business confidence index in trade remained in negative territory.

In 2025, the number of new companies in russia fell sharply: a total of 173,000 legal entities were registered in a year, which is by 20% fewer than a year earlier. This is the lowest figure in the last 14 years. The number of new companies decreased in 60 regions, including moscow, st. petersburg, and sverdlovsk region. At the same time, the number of liquidated companies increased by 15% – to 233,000. As a result, there were by 26% more closures than openings.

More than half a million citizens of the rf were declared bankrupt in 2025.

Sales of children’s goods in the rf  fell by 8% over the year as a whole. In the second half of the year, demand for baby food fell by 12%, while its price rose by 44%. Parents are increasingly saving money by buying second-hand goods: on Avito, 66% of purchases in this category are made from private sellers.

The number of new leasing contracts in russia in 2025 decreased by 30.3%. The number of units of property transferred to customers decreased by 27.5%. The largest reduction is associated with the segments of special equipment and transport – by 46% and 37%, respectively.

Sales of new passenger cars fell after the increase in VAT and the disposal fee. They decreased by 19% and 11% year-on-year compared to the previous week.

According to the results of 2025, the greatest demand on the russian secondary market is for cars 10 to 15 years old. This category accounted for 32% of the total volume of transactions.

russia’s civil merchant fleet construction program was halved due to lack of funds.

From December 2024 to November 2025, retail sales of dried fish snacks in russia fell by 7% year-on-year.

In 2025, russian citizens bought 22.3 million packs of antidepressants worth 20.5 billion rubles. Demand for antidepressants jumped 2.4 times in physical terms compared to 2022 and set a record for the fifth year in a row.

The state duma will once again tighten legislation against “foreign agents”. Currently, ministry of justice demands from banks to provide information about ”foreign agents”’ accounts, deposits, and transactions,  but they do so on paper. The new law provides for switching to electronic data exchange. Banks and government agencies will have to submit such information to the ministry of justice within three working days.

Deputy chairperson of the state duma committee on information policy andrey svintsov has proposed banning anonymity on the internet and introducing mandatory identification of social network users by passport.

russian colleges will limit paid education for lawyers and economists in order to increase the number of workers.

The   schools in the rf have begun to raise the cost of meals for students.

russia seeks full control over internal political processes in belarus. moscow is also becoming increasingly sensitive to minsk’s even slightest attempts to pursue an independent policy. This is stated in the annual report of the Latvian special service, the Constitution Protection Bureau (SAB).

Bundeswehr’s Brigadier General Thomas Lowin has pointed out that NATO plans to create an unmanned robotic zone on the border with russia and belarus over the next two years.

Kazakhstan will introduce an additional recycling fee for cars and agricultural machinery imported from belarus and russia.

In the rb, the foreign trade deficit in goods and services reached $1.31 billion in January-November 2025.

Cocoa powder saw the sharpest price increase in belarus last year. Prices for it rose by 72.72% in December compared to the same month in 2024. Next in the “rating” are apples (+53.52%), natural ground coffee (+36.05%), driving lessons (+35.36%), white cabbage (+26.92%), salted herring (+26.39%), and theater tickets (25.76%).

Over the past 10 years, the population of all major cities in belarus has declined. Among the major cities, svetlogorsk (gomel region) has suffered the most severe decline, having lost more than 10% of its population in ten years. orsha (vitebsk region) has also experienced demographic losses comparable to those of svetlogorsk, amounting to 10% of its population. solegorsk (minsk region) ranks third among the outsiders, with its population having declined by 6.5% over ten years.

The president of the national academy of sciences of Belarus vladimir karanik has admitted that the belarusian side overestimated its capabilities when attempting to create its own electric car. Talks about creating own electric car in belarus had been going on for over 10 years, but no real success had been achieved. At the beginning of 2025, it was decided to close the project because calculations showed that the cost of an electric car made from belarusian components would be too high, even for small-scale production.